grocery store trip vs instacart or amazon prime/walmart+?

[TUGBrian]

On our last visit to ocean walk I was fairly astonished by the number of amazon packages and instacart deliveries made to the resort while we were there.

not sure WHY it astonished me, guess id not really ever given it a whole lot of thought either way, nor had I seen an amazon truck deliver a virtual PALLET of packages right to the front desk before either...so it got me thinking.

how many people take advantage of this? obviously it may not be available for some resorts/locations but for the average US timeshare id imagine having your weekly groceries or snacks delivered right to the lobby vs making a trip yourself makes things SUPER convenient especially if you may not have a vehicle for your stay?

Also curious if there are any locations that specifically DONT allow for this or its simply not cost effective?

 

[kanerf]

I used to use Instacart, but switched to Walmart. They are quite a bit cheaper if they have everything you need and if you have Walmart+, the shipping cost is free.

 

[DeniseM]

We ordered groceries twice when we didn't have a car: Bonnet Creek, Orlando & Marriott Custom House, Boston. I loved it - I was born without the shopping gene, so I'm all for simple.

 

[easyrider]

That would be handy for bottled water.

Bill

 

[TUGBrian]

oh good call on walmart+ will add to title just in case!

 

[byeloe]

we order groceries all the time through Uber Eats in Cancun.(WLR) 2 local grocery stores or Costco are the options available

 

[slip]

We never use it. We enjoy going to grocery stores in different areas to see some regional items and compare prices.

 

[easyrider]

We never use it. We enjoy going to grocery stores in different areas to see some regional items and compare prices.

Same here. Especially in other countries or Hawaii. I could do without hauling cases of water though.

Bill

 

[slip]

Same here. Especially in other countries or Hawaii. I could do without hauling cases of water though.

Bill

I agree with the heavy liquids.

 

[PigsDad]

How does that work for items that need to be refrigerated? Or frozen? Do you know exactly when they will be delivered, or do you have to wait around your unit for a delivery timeframe?

Kurt

 

[moonstone]

I voted no, but last March I did order some groceries from Walmart for pickup for the first time for our condo stay. We flew back to Tampa Florida after our 2 months in Belize for a 2 day visit with our DS and DiL before heading over to our condo in St. Augustine Beach for 2 months. I knew it was going to later in the evening when we arrived in St. Augustine and we had to turn in our rental car at the Budget outlet inside Walmart anyways. I started a list on the flight down, added a few things while we were at our DS's then just before we left his house I ordered the items and chose a pickup time for that evening. We ended up arriving about 30 minutes before the pickup time so we had time to turn in our rental car. I ordered an Uber to meet us at the grocery pickup area and then take us to the condo where our car had been parked for 10 weeks. I didn't order too much in the way of fresh fruit or vegies as I prefer to pick out my own, but at least we had bread, milk, eggs, cereal and some things to do us for a couple of days.

The year before my dad moved to a retirement home, his Dr suspended his drivers license. Dad's biggest concern was how he was going to get groceries while I was in Belize for 3 months. DH and I had been doing it weekly for him all fall. Dad figured he would need to take a much hated taxi over to the grocery store and lug the groceries into his house upon his return. Our DD told me about Instacart and I gave it a try a couple of times before we left. It worked out great. I told Dad to keep a list of things he needed and then when I called him (on Google hangouts) he would read me off his list. I would order his items, put it on his credit card, and arrange for delivery that afternoon with instructions for the delivery person to use the back door and take the bags up the 3 steps to the kitchen floor so Dad didnt need to do the stairs. Several times the delivery person brought the groceries right up into the kitchen and set them on the counter for Dad. I made sure I tipped them accordingly. Dad (at 90 yrs old) thought it was just amazing that I could call him from Belize (from a computer to his landline, with perfectly clear reception), order groceries on my computer from the grocery store a mile from his house in Barrie ON and they were delivered within 2-3 hours.


~Diane

 

[buzglyd]

We use Walmart plus, Shipt and Instacart at home all the time. I haven’t done it much at TS resorts but we tend to eat out more when we travel.

 

[moonstone]

How does that work for items that need to be refrigerated? Or frozen? Do you know exactly when they will be delivered, or do you have to wait around your unit for a delivery timeframe?

Kurt

I had ordered our items (a few frozen & refrigerated) about 6 hours before the pickup time I specified. I think they must have the picker time the shopping so the stuff is still frozen/cold for the pickup time. None of my frozen stuff was thawed but the ice cream was a little soft.

~Diane

 

[TUGBrian]

How does that work for items that need to be refrigerated? Or frozen? Do you know exactly when they will be delivered, or do you have to wait around your unit for a delivery timeframe?

Kurt

admittedly ive never done it personally, but ive watched my wife do it quite often so that pretty much makes me an expert! =D

you shop for everything you want right on your phone and are regularly in communication with your "instacart shopper" in the store just in case they are unable to locate some items or need to substitute something from your list etc. once they checkout it kinda becomes like delivering pizza and you can track how far away they are and or when they arrive to meet them in the lobby or similar. Ive not stayed in any resorts that allowed deliveries right the room.

 

[missyrcrews]

Nope...I actually enjoy checking out regional grocery stores in the areas we travel. BUT...my job at Target is picking orders for folks to pick up or to be shipped out. So keep these online orders coming!

 

[Shiba]

I consistently use Walmart + on our vacations. I will set up an evening delivery time. They call or text when they are on their way and in the lobby. I either have the bell boys bring it up or the family will go downstairs. My refrigerated food is always cold when I get it, even my ice cream. I even had Walmart deliver my food in Puerto Rico. You should have seen the looks I got. People were surprised Walmart delivered. I even had my rum delivered for Pina Coladas.

It's very convenient for me especially if we don't rent a car. The kids have the app and put whatever snacks or food they want in the cart and a couple of days before I reserve my time. Walmart allows you to keep adding things to your cart after you reserve your time. I think the cut-off for adding items is 4 hours before delivery.

I even preordered my food in St. Thomas and picked them up at Cost-U-Less. Saved me a bunch of time and picked up a couple of miscellaneous items while we were there too. Thanks to fellow Tuggers I found out this was possible.

 

[deniseh]

I have been doing an online order at Walmart when we travel and then pick up after we arrived or on our way if we are later in the day. I also did an online order at Cost U Less in St Thomas last year and Superfoods in Aruba. It does save time and stress from trying to find things in an unfamiliar store and are tired from a long day of travel. I haven't done the delivery option yet. I was going to have our order delivered in Aruba but the store doesn't do delivery on Sunday and we were arriving Saturday afternoon so we went and picked it up instead once we checked in.

 

[jackio]

How does that work for items that need to be refrigerated? Or frozen? Do you know exactly when they will be delivered, or do you have to wait around your unit for a delivery timeframe?

Kurt

You set a 2 hour delivery window. They text you when the order is leaving the store. The refrigerated and freezer items remain cold.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

admittedly ive never done it personally, but ive watched my wife do it quite often so that pretty much makes me an expert! =D

you shop for everything you want right on your phone and are regularly in communication with your "instacart shopper" in the store just in case they are unable to locate some items or need to substitute something from your list etc. once they checkout it kinda becomes like delivering pizza and you can track how far away they are and or when they arrive to meet them in the lobby or similar. Ive not stayed in any resorts that allowed deliveries right the room.

Some hotels (like the DVC timeshares) will store refrigerated items in a giant refrigerator at bell services for you

 

[oceanlane96]

If we are traveling someplace where we won't have a car (like Disney) - we always do a grocery delivery (typically from Walmart or Amazon). If we have a car with us - we always do a grocery pickup (typically from Walmart or a local supermarket) because it saves on the fees and we don't typically find it adds much time to our day.

 

[dioxide45]

OceanWalk is also half traditional whole ownership condos. So perhaps that is a reason for more? We’ve never preferred any kind of food or grocery delivery at timeshares but often do Amazon. If the resort has some kind of fee for handling deliveries (looking at your $10 fee SVV). Then we do a locker.

 

[TheHolleys87]

How does that work for items that need to be refrigerated? Or frozen? Do you know exactly when they will be delivered, or do you have to wait around your unit for a delivery timeframe?

Kurt

I'll echo @Fido Chuckwagon in saying that the DVC resorts, and in fact all the Disney resorts including the values and moderates, have refrigerators and freezers to store items until you pick them up. We usually do our shopping on the way to the resort, and I make sure that items needing refrigeration and items needing freezing are bagged separately. If our room isn't ready when we arrive at the resort, I give our groceries to Bell Services along with our luggage, and they keep everything properly stored until we call down for them to bring them up to our room.

BTW if you have a split stay at WDW and are transferring from one resort to another, Bell Services will transfer your luggage, but they will not transfer anything that needs to be kept cold or frozen. You have to transfer those items yourself, and the new resort will store them properly for you.

Another thing to know about Disney resorts is that they will NOT accept deliveries that include any alcoholic beverages. The guest has to meet the delivery service and take the items themselves. There may be one exception, Garden Grocer, but I'm not sure whether they're still allowed to drop off alcohol at Bell Services or not.

 

[Cornell]

I mentioned in a previous post that my daughter was recently at one of the Sheraton properties in Orlando. We were informed they charge $14 per package that are delivered to the resort.

 

[darilee]

We go to Aruba every year and we use Superfoods delivery. We just started using the delivery service last year and I don’t know what took us so long to figure it out! I have our “favorites” stored in my login, so I just add them to my cart and choose my delivery date and time …Super Easy and CONVENIENT!!!

 

[Luanne]

We have stopped buying bottled water when we travel. I carry a resusable water bottle and just fill it from the tap. If we were someplace where the water was bad we could get bottle water.